Her five children lived in fear for years and were used
to getting slapped about the head so much so that when they
fell ill with the flu at school they begged teachers not to
send them home to their mother.

They were embarrassed to go even to a park, for she would
curtsy to the wind, talk to imaginary people and show signs
of aggression toward strangers.

For the past four years, Ottawa’s child-protection agency
has been investigating a series of reports about their
mother, including the time, in November 2008, when her
two-year-old boy went missing while she raked leaves. It was
around the same time she told a doctor that she was
possessed and that her children were messengers of impending
doom.

Out of concern for the children’s safety, a doctor twice
called the Children’s Aid Society. The doctor first called
the child-welfare agency in 2008. She called the agency a
second time earlier this year when the mother, who said she
suffered from postpartum depression, referenced Andrea
Yates, the Texas woman who drowned her five children in a
bathtub after suffering from the same kind of depression.

On Oct. 25, the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa won a
court order that says that if the mother refuses to take her
anti-psychotic drugs she will be banned from the family
home.

The mother has refused to take drugs in the past and has
declined to regularly see a psychiatrist.

The court issued by Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul
Lalonde says that from now on the father of the children
will be the primary caregiver. The father has agreed to stop
using his belt on the children as a form of discipline. He
told authorities that he didn’t know it was against the law
to use a belt to punish his children.

Social workers told both parents they could face criminal
charges if they continued to use corporal punishment.
Because the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa refuses to
publicly discuss cases, it is not known if they ever
reported the abuse to police.

The children all do well in school, including one boy who
was once identified for a so-called gifted program. In that
case, the mother told authorities that she thought the
gifted program was a government plot to use her children.

The court order also says the father will be supervised
by child-protection workers for the next 12 months.

According to a doctor’s notes, which were filed as an
exhibit in court, the mother has suffered from several
delusions which ended with a handful of criminal charges,
including erratic driving, trespassing and assaulting her
husband for biting his skin to the point of breaking it
while he slept. The court record does not show any charges
for hitting her children.

The judge who granted the order said the mother is a
“time bomb that can go off anytime.”

Though their father used his belt to deliver punishment,
the children all reported to authorities that they feared
their mother’s silent stare much more.

Lalonde wrote in his decision: “The children are all at a
vulnerable age between 14 years and five years of age
approximately. The mother’s delusions exhibited in public
are an embarrassment to the children. That embarrassment
prevents them from engaging with the community and impacts
negatively with their development.”

Provincial laws prohibit the Citizen from reporting any
details that might identify the five children.